It looks like Google is still up to its old tricks, burying conservative news outlets deep in the search results, making sure you have to dig through a mountain of left-wing content before you find anything remotely right-leaning. Last week, MRC researchers found that U.S.-based conservative news sources were shoved all the way to the 14th page of search results. Apparently, the tech giant hasn’t learned any lessons, because they’re still at it, hiding conservative voices like a guilty child stuffing vegetables under the mashed potatoes.
On October 8, MRC researchers gave it another go, searching for “Kamala Harris presidential race 2024” and “Donald Trump presidential race 2024.” Surprise, surprise—Google’s search results were dominated by the usual suspects like CNN and The New York Times, along with the mouthpieces of left-wing billionaires like Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post and Marc Benioff’s Time. As for conservative outlets? Well, good luck. You won’t find any U.S.-based right-leaning sites until you get all the way to page 11, where Fox News makes its lonely appearance. As for Trump? Conservative news doesn’t even make it until the 23rd page—yep, page 23—where Google finally tossed a Fox News video into the mix.
Now, this would be laughable if it weren’t so blatant. Google didn’t bother to include a single U.S.-based conservative news article about Trump anywhere in its 26-page search result lineup. A single video buried on page 23? Sure. But actual articles? Forget it. And they expect us to believe they’re an unbiased platform. Meanwhile, a Pew Research survey from November 2023 shows that 15 percent of American adults now rely on search engines like Google for their news, which makes this kind of behavior even more troubling.
For some extra flair, Google did include a U.K.-based “lean right” site—The Telegraph—in the results for both Harris and Trump. But of course, it was buried on page 6 for Harris and barely scraped the bottom of the first page for Trump. So, if you’re looking for a conservative take, you’ll either have to have a lot of patience or just resign yourself to the fact that the first five pages will be a buffet of liberal media content.
This isn’t Google’s first rodeo when it comes to playing favorites. A previous MRC study from September showed similar results, with users having to slog through a swamp of leftist articles before they could even find Trump’s campaign website. After that study, Trump himself blasted Google on Truth Social, accusing them of deliberately suppressing positive coverage of his campaign while rolling out the red carpet for glowing Kamala Harris stories. He didn’t mince words, calling it “ILLEGAL ACTIVITY” and vowing to go after the company for election interference when (or if) he returns to the Oval Office.
It’s clear that big tech still hasn’t gotten the message, and as more Americans rely on search engines for their news, the consequences of this one-sided approach are too big to ignore.
